NEW YORK CITY -- TouchTunes Interactive Networks, the largest out-of-home entertainment network in North America, has been awarded attorneys' fees of several million dollars in connection with its patent infringement lawsuit brought on by Arachnid Inc. In making the announcement this week, TouchTunes said it resolved to vigorously defend its reputation and its own patented technology, even though Arachnid had sued other jukebox companies, some of which settled with them.

The lawsuit began in 2007 following Arachnid's ongoing allegations in the marketplace that TouchTunes' jukeboxes infringed certain patents of Arachnid. TouchTunes, which manufactures digital jukebox kiosks and administers a music network for some 60,000 venues, held that the charges were unsupported. In October 2013, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York ruled in favor of TouchTunes in its patent infringement lawsuit against Arachnid Inc., which had alleged that TouchTunes infringed its computer jukebox patents. | SEE STORY

After October's ruling, and investing millions of dollars into its legal fight, TouchTunes moved to be awarded more than $5 million in legal fees and expenses. The court granted the motion for attorneys' fees, finding that Arachnid had maintained its litigation in bad faith. The judge has not yet determined the exact amount of the award, but it's expected to be in the millions.

"This attorneys' fees award provides us with a complete victory," said TouchTunes president and chief executive Charles Goldstuck. "We were confident over the past six plus years that, in the end, we would prove that we had been the victim of frivolous and bad faith allegations and this award finally and fully vindicates us. TouchTunes will continue its development of unique and original products, protected by more than 70 patents, and, in doing so, will also continue to respect the intellectual property rights of others."

Arachnid's founder, John Martin, was an inventor of numerous technologies associated with electronic darts, music downloading and touchscreen games. His company is a leading developer of electronic dart machines. Its patents describing a downloading jukebox, and related functions on a digital touchscreen jukebox, were filed in the early 1990s. The company announced plans for a downloading jukebox in the mid-1990s, but never introduced such a product. Arachnid challenged TouchTunes with its patent describing the storage of advertising data on a jukebox, among other patents. It sued another jukebox company, the now-defunct Ecast, which settled.